Kindred Spirits
by Romantic Medievalist
Summary: Post-6x16 AU. Bonnie is furious with Damon for forcing her to come face-to-face with Kai. But when things spin out of control, can she put aside her personal feelings to find Damon? What will she find if she does, and what will happen next? Delena implied, Bamon friendship. Rated T for language.


**Disclaimer: I own no part of the Vampire Diaries universe – I just hear Damon's voice in my head.**

**I know, I haven't updated in awhile, and I apologize for that – I'm applying to graduate schools and keeping up with my current classes, so I've been very busy lately. But I promise to give my stories more attention soon! After watching 6x16 last night, however, my heart was bleeding profusely for Damon, and this plot bunny demanded to be written, so here it is. PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

"_Abandonment doesn't have the sharp but dissipating sting of a slap. _

_It's like a punch to the gut, bruising your skin and driving the precious air from your body." _

― Tayari Jones, _Silver Sparrow_

**Bonnie POV**

Bonnie stood in front of the fireplace, and sighed harshly, squeezing her eyes shut as her phone rang for the 20th time in the last ten minutes. Was it so much to ask to just be left alone for a while?!

Then she mentally rolled her eyes at the irony in her line of thinking – she had been to hell and back to return to this world, where her friends and loved ones lived, and now all she wanted was some alone time.

She was almost vibrating with rage, even though her encounter with Damon and Kai had ended over a couple of hours ago. After all they had been through together, she could NOT believe that Damon would subject her to that bastard!

Her light-hearted phone call with him seemed like a lifetime ago now…how could he be so selfish? She got that he wanted to find his mom, she respected that in a way that most couldn't, but she just couldn't believe that he betrayed her this way.

She ground her teeth together as her phone continued to ring, and she stomped over to her purse and dug her phone out, answering it with a harsh "WHAT?!" only to hear Elena whimpering on the other end. "Elena?! What's wrong?"

She heard Elena reply in a tear-filled voice, "It's Caroline, she forced Stefan to turn off his humanity!" Bonnie gasped in horror, "Oh my God! How –why would he do that?! Are you still at the party?"

"No, I'm at Whitmore Medical. I'll explain why later, but I was hoping that Damon was with you? He's not answering his phone, and I have this really bad feeling, Bon."

Bonnie scowled and rolled her eyes, "No, he's definitely _not_ with _me_, and I'm sure he fine – he's probably at the boarding house getting plastered with his new bestie."

"New bestie? Bonnie, what are you talking about? I thought you and Damon had gotten closer, why do you sound so upset with him?"

Bonnie sighed, not wanting to get into it with Elena right now, "Let's just say your boyfriend decided to deliberately go against my wishes to get what he wants, and he really pissed me off."

"I know you two have had your differences, but I really need him Bon, Stefan needs him, and it's not like him to not answer my calls. Especially when he knows Caroline is…well, not Caroline."

Bonnie counts to ten in her mind so she doesn't blow up at Elena for never putting her needs first. "Fine, but you so owe me for this. And I had a long time in the prison world to think up really awesome favors to demand for when you guys ask me to do something," Bonnie said smirking slightly.

She could almost see Elena rolling her eyes at her, and she did hear her laugh softly, saying, "Whatever you say, Bon-Bon. Just please, call me when you find him?"

"I will, promise. Bye." As Bonnie hangs up her phone she heaves a deep sigh, preparing herself for what she was going to do. She was SO not in the mood to deal with Damon right now, but her best friend needed her to find him, so she would.

She figured the first place to look would be the boarding house, so she left Whitmore and got in her car. As she turned it on, she heard the vocal talents of Salt-N-Pepa ring out from her radio, and despite how murderously furious she was with Damon she couldn't help but burst out laughing as she remembered him dancing in the 1994 boarding house kitchen with a bottle of Bourbon in one hand and a spatula to flip his pancakes in the other.

As soon as her fit of hilarity was over, she began the drive to the boarding house. Everything was quiet, she noticed, but she saw Damon's "beloved" Camaro parked in front, and the lights were on inside, so she knew he was there somewhere. Quickly sending a text off to Elena telling her as much, she turned off the engine and got out of her car, making her way to the front door.

She walked up the front steps, silently praying that he was somewhat sober, and knocked on the door. When he didn't answer, she scowled and glared at the door, as if it had done her some personal injustice, before turning the knob and entering the house.

"Damon?! I _know _you're in here! I saw your car! Get your ass-" Both her steps and words stopped immediately when her eyes fell on the male figure slumped on the steps to the living room. Never, in all the time she had known Damon, had she ever seen him cry. Not even when he realized he was stuck on the Other Side with her.

But he certainly was now. She could tell by the way his whole upper body was shaking with his audible sobs. They were heartbreaking, and Bonnie was bewildered at the sight – she couldn't imagine what had caused them. Elena was fine, and Stefan had gone off the rails, but he didn't know yet, so she knew that wasn't it.

He had seemed deeply hurt by her yelling and her witchy actions against him, but- THAT'S IT! Kai must have done something! _OH, HELL NO_! She may have been pissed beyond words with Damon, but _NO ONE_ hurts him except her! She feels her body vibrating with rage again, but this time towards Kai – how _dare_ he hurt Damon?!

But she pushed those thoughts aside; she needed to find out what had happened. Thanking God that Elena talked her into finding him, she slowly approached him, tears shining in her eyes as she sat down next to him before she lightly placed a hand on his shoulder.

**Damon POV**

Damon completely fell apart after Kai left, and he had barely held it together that long. He couldn't believe it – the truth he had been fighting against, been trying so hard to deny, had finally been proven: his mother was alive. Not only alive, but she was a vampire, and most importantly, she had willingly abandoned him.

Katherine's many betrayals paled in comparison to this one, his own _mother_ had willingly left him, knowing what a bastard his father was to him when she wasn't around. He knows his anger and fury will surface soon, but now all he feels is pain.

He doesn't even have the strength to stand, so he just rests his elbows on his knees, drops his head into his hands, and sobs out his heartache. It seemed like only minutes – or was it hours? – when he felt a warm, gentle hand on his shoulder.

He flinched away and his head shot up abruptly as he looked to see who had witnessed his breakdown. He gazed at Bonnie's sad, tear-stricken face, and more tears fell from his eyes as he said, "How did you do it?"

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion, and she replied, "Do what?" He swallowed the lump in his throat and then said, "How did you get over it when your mother abandoned you?" Bonnie's mouth dropped open in shock, not expecting that question.

"Um…it's not something you really get over, you know? I guess I just focused on my dad, my Grams, and my friends. Why? Is that what Kai told you?! You know you can't believe a word he says, Damon!"

Her tone became more hurried and louder as she spoke, and Damon just looked at her, smiling sadly like a child who was listening to his parents trying to convince him that Santa was real. "Yeah, Kai's a psychopath, but he just told me the truth, Bonnie, even after I threatened to kill him for it."

He couldn't take looking at her sympathetic gaze anymore, so he shifted his view to look at the fireplace, losing himself in the flames. He could hear Bonnie take a deep breath before asking," What did that SOB say to you, Damon?"

Without taking his eyes away from the flames, he replied in a rough voice, "He said that my mother never died from consumption, that she was turned into a vampire and she faked her death before running off to Europe. The 1903 prison world you found, that world was created especially for her." He clenches his jaw and says, "And I hope she rots in it!"

Bonnie lays a hand on his arm, "You can't mean that! She's still your mom!" "Damon chuckles darkly, "She stopped being my mom the second she left me with that bastard called my father. She knew what he was like, and she still-" he cut himself off, feeling his throat close up.

"I'm so sorry. I know how much it hurts to be abandoned, but it gets better." At that, Damon rips his arm away and get up quickly, stomping into the living room before turning to look at her. "_How_ can this ever get better Bonnie?! I thought she was the only woman that ever loved me, no exceptions, no conditions, but she's just like Katherine! I thought she left me because she died, but she left me willingly!" he yells, waving his arms around.

Bonnie stood up and said, "That's not true! That selfish slut Katherine never cared about anyone but herself, but your mom loved you! We don't know what happened when she turned, but at least you know that. I thought I would die the day that my mom walked out, but I still had people that cared about me! You do too! You have Stefan, Elena, Ric…hell, even I care about your ass!"

Damon smirks weakly, "Well, Rebekah did say once that it was a nice one." Bonnie throws up her hands, "GAH! You drive me crazy! Just accept a compliment for once in your ego-driven life! We all care about you, why can't you see that?"

Damon's smirk disappears, and he says, "Because you haven't heard the best part yet…my mother is a Ripper." Bonnie freezes and her eyes widen in shock. "W-what?" "Yep…turns out my spineless asshole of a father was right after all – I may look like her, but Stefan is the one that got her spirit," he says as he heads toward the alcohol cart.

**Bonnie POV**

Bonnie's heart breaks at the pain in his voice…Elena told her once about how his father had verbally and physically abused Damon, and how he considered Stefan to be his "golden child." It's why he resented it so much when both doppelgängers chose Stefan repeatedly over him, why he never thought himself good enough.

She knew, better than most, how it felt to be abandoned by one's mother. This vampire who sat before her, he had endured so much pain and abandonment in his long life – from both of his parents, his brother, Katherine, even Elena – and now he was being forced to face the fact that the woman who gave birth to him had abandoned him by choice.

"Damon, no! You know that I'm always first in line to call you out on all the bad things you've done, but underneath all that selfishness and hatred, you're a good man, when you choose to be. And are you seriously moaning about the fact that they're Rippers and you're not?" she says with a smile as she walks toward him.

As much as she hated to admit it, she understood now why he had gone against her wishes not to see Kai; he knew what he'd done to her, and still he'd done it. Every woman he'd ever loved had abandoned him or, in Elena's case, erased him, but he had always thought his mother left him because she had no other choice.

"What can I say, my selfishness knows no limits," he says, shrugging before he downs the glass of bourbon he'd poured for himself. She gives him an annoyed look, "Are you seriously going to argue with me about the depths of your personality, when I'm actually defending you for a change, even if it is to youself?"

Damon turned to look at the fireplace again, and she realized that this was his way of reigning in his emotions. She knew he wasn't one to express his feelings, he was much too guarded for that, but their time together in 1994 had brought them closer, and she'd be damned if he shut her out now.

"Look, I know this hurts like hell right now, believe me, but you aren't alone. You have Elena, who despite not having her memories back _still_ sees the good in you; then there's Ric, who despite coming to this town to kill you became your best friend, and hell, you even have me, despite the fact that I want to kick your ass daily."

She hears him chuckle, and she smiles – it may be a weak laugh, but at least he's making the effort. "Bonnie?" he says in a strained voice, "I don't know how to cope with this. She's my _mom_, and she left me to slaughter thousands of people. How am I supposed to make sense of this?"

She walks up to him and says softly, "You begin by realizing that your mom was human, that she made a decision that greatly affected you, and that she's not the angelic person that you imagined when you put her up on this pedestal."

She looks up at him, and his eyes are so full of pain and hopelessness, she can't stop herself from putting her arms around him and hugging him. She feels his arms come around her in return, squeezing her to him, and resting his cheek on the top of her head.

She hears the vibrations in his chest as he breaks the silence, "Thank you Bonnie, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done what I did." She pulls back, nods and looks him in the eye, saying, "I know, and you're welcome. I know this wasn't something you ever expected, but hey, at least you didn't kill anyone." She grins when he smirks and she sees a glimmer of that 'Damon' sparkle back in his eyes.

"You know, the first thing on my list when I got back here was to kick the wonder twins' asses for getting us locked up in that hellhole. But honestly, I kinda want to thank them now. Hey now, don't you give me that look, Judgy" he says seeing Bonnie's look of utter disbelief and shock, "I'm just saying, it brought us closer."

_He's right_, Bonnie thinks, _I mean, when I came back, the first thing I did was go and see him. That's probably why it enraged me so much when he brought Kai to the rave. I thought we were past that, him disregarding my feelings to get whatever he wanted._

She was tired of the heavy talk, and felt a need to see his snarky side, so she replied, "Does this mean we're friends now, Leather Man?" She smiles at his smirk, then at his dramatic sigh and shake of his head, "Heaven forbid, Bon-Bon!"

"So….what dire emergency made you seek out my fabulous presence in the middle of the night? I gather it wasn't just to kick my ass…again, might I add?" Bonnie's face drains of color, remembering why Elena sent her to find him in the first place.

Damon panics at the look on her face, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing them, "Hey, whatever it is, it'll be fine. We've overcome death numerous times, what could be worse than that?" Damon says, smirk in full-effect.

Bonnie audibly gulps, and tells him what she knew would make his good mood fly right out the window, "Caroline convinced Stefan to turn off his humanity."

She could see his eyes widen in shock and his mouth drop open, "HE _WHAT_?!" Yep, there it goes. Sighing, she thought to herself, _can we ever __**not**__ have a drama-filled crisis to deal with_? _Oh well, at least no one's dead_. _Yet__._

**Thanks for reading everyone! Please review! **


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